September 26, 2008

An Interview with Dr. Alan Keyes McAlvany Weekly Commentary (September 24, 2008) - Dr. Alan Keyes touches on the current global financial crisis and the socialist direction of our nation regardless of who is elected.

This analysis looks at the ideology in the Future group report, Freedom, Security and Privacy - the area of European Home Affairs. The EU is currently developing a new five year strategy for justice and home affairs and security policy for 2009-2014. The proposals set out by the shadowy ‘Future Group’ include a range of extremely controversial measures including techniques and technologies of surveillance and enhanced cooperation with the United States. (Future group report: Freedom, Security and Privacy - the area of European Home Affairs)

This examines the proposals of the Future Group and their relation to existing and planned EU policies. It shows how European governments and EU policy-makers are pursuing unfettered powers to access and gather masses of personal data on the everyday life of everyone – on the grounds that we can all be safe and secure from perceived “threats”.

The Council of the European Union's "Future Group" presented its final report at the Justice and Home Affairs Council's July 2008 meeting. This will lead to a new justice and home affairs programme for 2010-2014, following the "Tampere" programme (1999-2004) and the "Hague" programme 2005-2009. The final programme will be proposed by the European Commission, then amended and adopted by the Council. It will set out a detailed programme for both new measures and practices for the five-year period. The “Timetable” indicates that the new five year plan will be adopted under the Swedish Council Presidency in the second half of 2009 – the “Stockholm programme” maybe. (Timetable)

The final report is intended to be the basis of a proposal from the European Commission and unlike the processes for the adoption of the Tampere and Hague programmes it also suggests that the European Parliament will be consulted - but, as usual, the Council of the European Union (the 27 governments) will have the final say on its content.

The group was set up in January 2007 - Ministers had agreed to a German Presidency proposal at the Informal JHA meeting in Dresden on 14-16 January 2007 and later "in the margins" of the JHA Council on 14 February 2007.4 Its final report is from the "Informal High Level Advisory Group on the Future of European Home Affairs Policy" and is entitled: Freedom, Security and Privacy - European Home Affairs in an open world. A separate report was also published on Justice.5 The Tampere and Hague programmes were concerned with both home affairs and justice so this separation is unusual but deliberate - in many member states the Justice Ministries are often perceived as being more "liberal" as they cover peoples' rights in the criminal justice system whereas Interior Ministries are more concerned with the agencies that exercise coercive powers over citizens and migrants. more... (60-page report)
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder |

EU: FUTURE GROUP REPORT: An interesting postscript on the Council's (EU governments) Freedom, Security, Privacy - European Home Affairs in an open world (pdf) report is that the Council Presidency (France) sent this report to COREPER (high-level committee of Brussels-based representatives of all EU member states) and the Council (Ministers) in a document dated 9 July 2008 - it was discussed at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 24-25 July. However, it was not "archived" (made publicly available) on the Council's public register of documents until 11 September 2008 - two months later and the same day that Statewatch released its report on the Future Group's report on European Home Affairs: The Shape of Things to Come Statewatch had put this document on its website: Future Report: Freedom, Security, Privacy – European Home Affairs in an open world (pdf) on 7 August 2008. Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "The Council's report on the future direction of EU justice and home affairs policies raises fundamental questions on privacy, civil liberties and the kind of society we want to live in. Statewatch's analysis on "The Shape of Things to Come", was published on 11 September, by which time over 10,000 copies of the EU Future Group's report had been downloaded from our website. The very same day the Council made the report available to the public - but if Statewatch had not published "The Shape of Things to Come" when would the Council have made it public?"

Wall Street rescue deal blocked BBC (September 26, 2008) - Talks to agree a huge $700bn (£380bn) bail-out of the US financial industry have ended in a "shouting match". After several hours of discussions with President George W Bush, a group of Republican members of Congress blocked the government plan. The proposal would have seen the government buy bad debts from US banks to prevent more of them collapsing. President Bush is due to make a statement about the negotiations at 0935 in Washington (1435 BST).

Both sides have agreed to resume talks later on Friday. The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, told ABC News that she "hoped" a bailout plan could be agreed within 24 hours, because "it has to happen". Financial markets are gummed up because banks do not know exactly how much bad debt they hold and are therefore reluctant to lend to businesses, consumers and each other. The fall-out of this credit crunch continues to make a huge impact: The United States suffered its largest bank failure yet, when regulators moved in to close down Washington Mutual and then sold it to US rival JP Morgan Chase for $1.9bn

In a co-ordinated move the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank announced new short-term loans to the banking sector worth tens of billions of dollars. Banks continued to cut costs, with UK banking giant HSBC saying it would axe 1,100 jobs Shares in UK bank Bradford & Bingley fell another 20% to 17 pence before recovering slightly. more...

'Full throated discussion'

On Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislators appeared to have struck a deal. A group of Democrats and Republicans even made a public statement, with Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announcing that they had reached "fundamental agreement" on the principles of a bail-out plan.

But after the White House meeting, the top Republican on the committee, Richard Shelby, told reporters: "I don't believe we have an agreement." The intense discussions reportedly saw US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson literally down on one knee, begging Ms Pelosi to help push through the bail-out package. However, the agreement unravelled when a group of Republican legislators objected to the principle of the plan. The talks at the White House, led by Mr Paulson and US President George W Bush, then descended into what one participant described as "a full-throated discussion". Officials with the campaign team of Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke of "a contentious shouting match".

The Republican critics of the bail-out plan worry about both its cost and how it would involve the government in the financial sector. Instead, they want a government-backed insurance policy for the huge amounts of bad debt built up by US banks. This proposal, however, was described as "unworkable" both by Democratic politicians and some US government officials.

Doubts over presidential debate

Some Democrats were scathing about the lack of support for the Paulson plan. "For House Republicans to take a walk is just appalling," said Democrat Barney Frank. He later added that the passage of the bill depended on the Republicans. "It depends on the House Republicans dropping this revolt against the president and cooperating in trying to amend the plan," he said.

The breakdown of talks has put a huge question mark over the first debate in the presidential election campaign in the US. Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Mr McCain were supposed to meet in Oxford, Mississippi. But Mr McCain said he wanted to pull out and focus on getting a bailout plan agreed instead. Democrats accused him of posturing and avoiding telling voters how he would solve the crisis.

Bank failure

As the credit crunch continues to bite, regulators moved in and shut down Washington Mutual (WaMu), one of the largest savings and loan institutions in the US. Depositors had withdrawn $16.7bn from the bank during the past 10 days alone. They immediately sold on the bank to banking giant JPMorgan Chase for $1.9bn. "With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," said the Office of Thrift Supervision.

WaMu had seen its share price drop by more than 80% this year, after suffering considerable losses due to failed mortgages. Earlier this year JPMorgan Chase also bought investment bank Bear Stearns when it faced collapse.

WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure Reuters (September 25, 2008) - Washington Mutual Inc was closed by the U.S. government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion. Thursday's seizure and sale is the latest historic step in U.S. government attempts to clean up a banking industry littered with toxic mortgage debt. Negotiations over a $700 billion bailout of the entire financial system stalled in Washington on Thursday.

Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, has been one of the lenders hardest hit by the nation's housing bust and credit crisis, and had already suffered from soaring mortgage losses. Washington Mutual was shut by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was named receiver. This followed $16.7 billion of deposit outflows at the Seattle-based thrift since Sept 15, the OTS said. "With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," the OTS said. Customers should expect business as usual on Friday, and all depositors are fully protected, the FDIC said.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the bailout happened on Thursday night because of media leaks, and to calm customers. Usually, the FDIC takes control of failed institutions on Friday nights, giving it the weekend to go through the books and enable them to reopen smoothly the following Monday. Washington Mutual has about $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits, regulators said. The largest previous U.S. banking failure was Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust, which had $40 billion of assets when it collapsed in 1984.

JPMorgan said the transaction means it will now have 5,410 branches in 23 U.S. states from coast to coast, as well as the largest U.S. credit card business. It vaults JPMorgan past Bank of America Corp to become the nation's second-largest bank, with $2.04 trillion of assets, just behind Citigroup Inc. Bank of America will go to No. 1 once it completes its planned purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. The bailout also fulfills JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's long-held goal of becoming a retail bank force in the western United States. It comes four months after JPMorgan acquired the failing investment bank Bear Stearns Cos at a fire-sale price through a government-financed transaction. On a conference call, Dimon said the "risk here obviously is the asset values." He added: "That's what created this opportunity." more...

JPMorgan expects to incur $1.5 billion of pre-tax costs, but realize an equal amount of annual savings, mostly by the end of 2010. It expects the transaction to add to earnings immediately, and increase earnings 70 cents per share by 2011. It also plans to sell $8 billion of stock, and take a $31 billion write-down for the loans it bought, representing estimated future credit losses. The FDIC said the acquisition does not cover claims of Washington Mutual equity, senior debt and subordinated debt holders. It also said the transaction will not affect its roughly $45.2 billion deposit insurance fund. "Jamie Dimon is clearly feeling that he has an opportunity to grab market share, and get it at fire-sale prices," said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati. "He's becoming an acquisition machine."

BAILOUT UNCERTAINTY

The transaction came as Washington wrangles over the fate of a $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry, which has been battered by mortgage defaults and tight credit conditions, and evaporating investor confidence. "It removes an uncertainty from the market," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital in Sydney. "The problem is that markets are in a jittery stage. Washington Mutual provides another reminder how tenuous things are."

Washington Mutual's collapse is the latest of a series of takeovers and outright failures that have transformed the American financial landscape and wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars of shareholder wealth. These include the disappearance of Bear, government takeovers of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the insurer American International Group Inc, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, and Bank of America's purchase of Merrill.

JPMorgan, based in New York, ended June with $1.78 trillion of assets, $722.9 billion of deposits and 3,157 branches. Washington Mutual then had 2,239 branches and 43,198 employees. It is unclear how many people will lose their jobs. Shares of Washington Mutual plunged $1.24 to 45 cents in after-hours trading after news of a JPMorgan transaction surfaced. JPMorgan shares rose $1.04 to $44.50 after hours, but before the stock offering was announced.

119-YEAR HISTORY

The transaction ends exactly 119 years of independence for Washington Mutual, whose predecessor was incorporated on September 25, 1889, "to offer its stockholders a safe and profitable vehicle for investing and lending," according to the thrift's website. This helped Seattle residents rebuild after a fire torched the city's downtown.

It also follows more than a week of sale talks in which Washington Mutual attracted interest from several suitors. These included Banco Santander SA, Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Wells Fargo & Co, as well as private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group, people familiar with the situation said.

Less than three weeks ago, Washington Mutual ousted Chief Executive Kerry Killinger, who drove the thrift's growth as well as its expansion in subprime and other risky mortgages. It replaced him with Alan Fishman, the former chief executive of Brooklyn, New York's Independence Community Bank Corp. WaMu's board was surprised at the seizure, and had been working on alternatives, people familiar with the matter said. More than half of Washington Mutual's roughly $227 billion book of real estate loans was in home equity loans, and in adjustable-rate mortgages and subprime mortgages that are now considered risky. The transaction wipes out a $1.35 billion investment by David Bonderman's private equity firm TPG Inc, the lead investor in a $7 billion capital raising by the thrift in April. A TPG spokesman said the firm is "dissatisfied with the loss," but that the investment "represented a very small portion of our assets."

DIMON POUNCES

The deal is the latest ambitious move by Dimon. Once a golden child at Citigroup before his mentor Sanford "Sandy" Weill engineered his ouster in 1998, Dimon has carved for himself something of a role as a Wall Street savior. Dimon joined JPMorgan in 2004 after selling his Bank One Corp to the bank for $56.9 billion, and became chief executive at the end of 2005.

Some historians see parallels between him and the legendary financier John Pierpont Morgan, who ran J.P. Morgan & Co and was credited with intervening to end a banking panic in 1907. JPMorgan has suffered less than many rivals from the credit crisis, but has been hurt. It said on Thursday it has already taken $3 billion to $3.5 billion of write-downs this quarter on mortgages and leveraged loans.

Washington Mutual has a major presence in California and Florida, two of the states hardest hit by the housing crisis. It also has a big presence in the New York City area. The thrift lost $6.3 billion in the nine months ended June 30. "It is surprising that it has hung on for as long as it has," said Nancy Bush, an analyst at NAB Research LLC.

Solar wind weakest since beginning of space age Breitbart.com (September 24, 2008) - The intensity of the sun's million-mile-per-hour solar wind has dropped to its lowest levels since accurate records began half a century ago, scientists say. Measurements of the cosmic blasts of radiation, ejected from the sun's upper atmosphere, were made with the Ulysses spacecraft, a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The solar wind "inflates a protective bubble, or heliosphere, around the solar system," which protects the inner planets against the radiation from other stars, said Dave McComas, Ulysses' solar wind principal investigator and senior executive director at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "With the solar wind at an all-time low, there is an excellent chance the heliosphere will diminish in size and strength," said Ed Smith, NASA's Ulysses project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "If that occurs, more galactic cosmic rays will make it into the inner part of our solar system," added Smith.

Scientists say the weakening of solar wind appears to be due to changes in the sun's magnetic field, but the causes of these changes are unknown. The weakened solar activity can be beneficial because it slows satellites around the Earth, allowing them to remain in orbit longer.

The sun normally experiences 11-year-cycles between periods of great activity and lesser activity. But, Smith said, the Ulysses mission's recent results, published in Geophysical Research Letters, show that "we are in a period of minimal activity that has stretched on longer than anyone anticipated."

The Ulysses mission was the first project to survey the space environment over the sun's poles. The data the spacecraft has collected has profoundly changed the way scientists view our nearest star and its effects on the Earth. The spacecraft has traveled more than 539 million kilometers in more than 18 years, almost four times its expected lifetime.

Hamas plotting West Bank takeover in early 2009 World Tribune (September 24, 2008) - The Palestinian Authority has opted for a holding pattern rather than developing a strategy to block the opposition Hamas movement from seizing power in the West Bank. PA security sources said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has refused to respond to appeals by senior officers to implement a range of measures to protect the Fatah-aligned regime from Hamas threats.

"Abu Mazen [Abbas] is scared of Hamas," a senior source said. "He does not want to provoke Hamas." The PA has assessed that Hamas could not topple the Abbas regime. Senior officials said that unlike the Gaza Strip, Hamas does not have sufficient forces to sustain a rebellion in the West Bank, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Hamas does not have real power in the West Bank and Israel is exaggerating its strength," PA National Security Force commander Maj. Gen. Diyab Al Ali said. "We are ready to control the West Bank cities and maintain security if Israel withdraws from them and this will make it easier for us to obtain our demands from Israel."

But security sources said Hamas could destabilize the PA to the point where senior officials either flee the West Bank or stay home. The sources said this could include Abbas, who has often threatened to quit. The sources said Hamas has been working with Iran and Syria in a campaign to undermine the Abbas regime in 2009. They said the Hamas effort was being planned in the Gaza Strip by military chief Ahmed Jaabari.

In 2008, the PA arrested about 400 Hamas members in the West Bank and closed four Hamas charities. All but about 120 have been released. On Sept. 22, PA forces raided the Hebron office of a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, identified as Samira Al Halayka,. Hebron has been the latest target of a PA crackdown on Hamas. The sources said Hamas was believed to have organized assassination and sabotage squads that could attack the PA after January 2009, when Abbas's term was scheduled to end. Abbas was said to have agreed to a U.S. request to remain in power after January.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Dividing the Land |

Syria poised to invade Lebanon WorldNet Daily (September 24, 2008) - New concerns are being raised by the possibility that Syria may launch troops into Lebanon by using a pretext of concern over assaults on a Lebanese faction sympathetic to the Syrian leadership, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. Confirmed reports reveal that there are some 10,000 Syrian special forces troops massed on the northern border of Lebanon. A small Alawite faction near the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, has been in repeated gun fights with Sunni militants. The area's majority population is Sunni. The Alawites are of the same tribe as Syrian President Bashar Assad. Most of Syria's top security and military officials also are Alawite.

The concern is that Syria forcibly would annex the northern part of Lebanon to protect the Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam which is associated closely with the Syrian-supported Shiite Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been fighting the Sunnis in support of the Alawite minority in northern Lebanon. The Alawites in Lebanon became influential while Syrian troops occupied Lebanon until 2005. The Syrian troops left following the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

The Syrian opposition, led by Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, places the blame of the father's assassination on the Syrian regime. The investigation to determine responsibility for Hariri's assassination still is under way. Saad Hariri heads the Sunni group that is fighting with the Alawites in Tripoli. In early September, Hariri, who heads the Sunni Future Movement in Lebanon, recently held talks with the head of the Alawite faction, Ali Eid. Eid is pro-Syrian while Hariri's Future Movement heads the anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon.

Tensions in Tripoli, however, have precluded any return to political stability in Lebanon despite efforts last May by Qatar to end a long power struggle between Hariri's anti-Syrian coalition and the pro-Syrian Hezbollah. The 10,000 Syrian special forces troops massed on the Syrian-Lebanese border are in positions on the northern Lebanese border in the hills overlooking the El-Kabir River, which forms the northern boundary of the two countries.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

UN chief calls for 'global leadership' Breitbart.com (September 23, 2008) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday stressed the need for "global leadership" as he pressed world leaders not to pursue narrow national interests in the face of hard economic times. "I see a danger of nations looking more inward, rather than toward a shared future," he said at the opening of the UN General Assembly's annual debate. He spoke of a "challenge of global leadership" to tackle the world's worsening financial, energy and food crises.

"We see new centers of power and leadership -- in Asia, Latin America and across the newly developed world," Ban told more than 120 heads of state or government, including Presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. "In this new world, our challenges are increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation," he added. "Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest."

On the world's current financial crisis, the UN secretary general stressed the need to "restore order to the international financial markets". "We need a new understanding on business ethics and governance, with more compassion and less uncritical faith in the 'magic' of markets," the UN boss said.

Ban, who has chosen implementation of key poverty reduction goals as a major theme of this year's debate, said he saw "a danger of retreating from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of development and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth." "Global growth has raised billions of people out of poverty. However, if you are among the world's poor, you have never felt poverty so sharply."

On Thursday, he will host a summit meeting on implementation of the poverty reduction Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the margins of the General Assembly session. Ban said he would use Thursday's summit to press world leaders, the private sector, foundations, and civil society to make "ambitious and concrete" proposals to ensure that these goals are implemented by a 2015 deadline.

Monday, a summit meeting on Africa's development needs adopted a political declaration urging rich countries to honor their pledge to double their annual aid to the continent, which is struggling to meet the MDGs. And returning to the theme of global leadership, Ban told the assembly: "It takes leadership to honor our pledges and our promises in the face of fiscal constraints and political opposition. "It takes leadership to commit our soldiers to a cause of peace in faraway places. It takes leadership to speak out for justice. To act on climate change despite wonderful voices against you."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

FINAL WARNING: The Birth Pangs of the New World Order David Allen Rivera (September 23, 2008) - In an address delivered to the Union League of Philadelphia on November 27, 1915, Nicholas Murray Butler said: The old world order changed when this war-storm broke. The old international order passed away as suddenly, as unexpectedly, and as completely as if it had been wiped out by a gigantic flood, by a great tempest, or by a volcanic eruption. The old world order died with the setting of that days sun and a new world order is being born while I speak, with birth pangs so terrible that it seems almost incredible that life could come out of such fearful suffering and such overwhelming sorrow.

In a 1919 subscription letter for the magazine International Conciliation, M. C. Alexander, the Executive Secretary of the American Association for International Conciliation wrote: The peace conference has assembled. It will make the most momentous decisions in history, and upon these decisions will rest the stability of the new world order and the future peace of the world.

In August, 1927, Dr. Augustus O. Thomas, President of the World Federation of Education Associations said:

Adolf Hitler said: National Socialism will use its own revolution for the establishing of a new world order. In the 1932 book The New World Order, author F. S. Marvin said that the League of Nations was the first attempt at a New World Order, and said that nationality must rank below the claims of mankind as a whole.

Edward VIII became King of England on January 20, 1936, but he was forced to abdicate the throne eleven months later, when he married a commoner. He became the Duke of Windsor, and in July, 1940, became the governor of the Bahamas. He is on record as saying: Whatever happens, whatever the outcome, a new Order is going to come into the world ... It will be buttressed with police power ... When peace comes this time there is going to be a new Order of social justice. It cannot be another Versailles.

In a New York Times article in October, 1940, called New World Order Pledged to Jews, comes the following excerpt: In the first public declaration on the Jewish question since the outbreak of the war, Arthur Greenwood, member without portfolio in the British War Cabinet, assured the Jews of the United States that when victory was achieved an effort would be made to found a new world order based on the ideals of justice and peace.

The Declaration of the Federation of the World, written by the Congress on World Federation, which was adopted by the Legislatures of some states, including North Carolina (1941), New Jersey (1942), and Pennsylvania (1943), said:

From an article in a June, 1942 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer: Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles tonight called for the early creation of an international organization of anti-Axis nations to control the world during the period between the armistice at the end of the present war and the setting up of a new world order on a permanent basis.

According to a February, 1962 New York Times article called Rockefeller Bids Free Lands Unite: Calls at Harvard for Drive to Build New World Order, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller told an audience at Harvard University:

Richard Nixon wrote in the October, 1967 issue of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) journal Foreign Affairs: The developing coherence of Asian regional thinking is reflected in a disposition to consider problems and loyalties in regional terms, and to evolve regional approaches to development needs and to the evolution of a new world order. In 1972, while in China, in a toast to Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, Nixon expressed the hope that each of us has to build a new world order.

Richard Gardner, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations under Kennedy and Johnson, and a member of the Trilateral Commission, wrote in the April, 1974 issue of Foreign Affairs (pg. 558):

Richard A. Falk, wrote in his article Toward a New World Order: Modest Methods and Drastic Visions (from the 1975 book On the Creation of a Just World Order):

In 1975, 32 Senators and 92 Representatives in Congress signed A Declaration of Interdependence (written by the historian Henry Steele Commager) which said that we must join with others to bring forth a new world orderNarrow notions of national sovereignty must not be permitted to curtail that obligation. Congresswoman Marjorie Holt, who refused to sign it, said:

In an October, 1975 speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations, Henry Kissinger said:

Conservative author George Weigel, director of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. said:

In a December, 1988 speech, Mikhail Gorbachev told the United Nations: Further global progress is now possible only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a new world order. more...
| NewWorldOrder |

Russia sends warships on military exercise in America's 'backyard' as the new Cold War intensifies Daily Mail UK (September 23, 2008) - Russian warships set off for the Caribbean yesterday for their first naval exercises on the U.S.'s doorstep since the Cold War. The vessels from the Northern Fleet, including nuclear missile cruiser the Peter the Great, left their base in Severomorsk to hold joint manoeuvres with Venezuela.

The exercises are seen as retaliation to U.S. plans to install a strategic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. It is also thought to be a response to Western support for Georgia, which was invaded by Moscow last month. Last week, in a show of strength that echoed the Cold War, two Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers flew over the Caribbean into Venezuela - a close ally of Russia. The Bush administration has accused the Kremlin of playing a 'dangerous game' by carrying out flights with strategic bombers near U.S. borders.

Igor Dygalo, an aide to the chief naval commander, said last night: 'A flotilla of Russia's Northern Fleet ships, including its flagship, the nuclear missile cruiser Peter the Great, destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and escorting ships have left Severomorsk, the Northern Fleet's base. 'As a part of this trip, Russian warships will take part in joint exercises with the Venezuelan navy.' The Admiral Chabanenko, a Russian anti-submarine destroyer, Udaloy II class, has also set sail for Latin America.

Deputy Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Nikolai Karachun added: 'The ships are loaded with both training and live rounds, all is in good order and checked, the ships are technically sound, all crews are fully prepared, and spare parts are on board the warships and their escorts.'

Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by then-President Vladimir Putin. Russian bombers have since carried out more than 90 strategic patrol flights and have often been escorted by Nato planes, including RAF interceptors. The flights were designed to show the once-feared Russian Military had regained its confidence and aggression since decaying in the post-Soviet era.

Military leaders in the country have also threatened to base bombers in Cuba, deliberately evoking comparisons with the 1962 Cuba missile crisis in which the USA and the Soviet Union came close to all-out war after the Red Army shipped missiles to the Caribbean island. President Hugo Chavez has embarked on a five-nation foreign tour which includes a red carpet visit to Moscow where he will be lauded for standing up the United States.

Kremlin prime minister Vladimir Putin's push to the Caribbean will act as a warning to the next U.S. president, to be elected in November, that despite the world current financial turbulence, Moscow is again a force to be reckoned with following a massive oil-fuelled economic recovery since the fall of the USSR. Military analyst Alexander Golts said: 'It's a show of the Kremlin irritation about the U.S. deployment to Georgia. It's a signal to the United States: you have broken into our zone of influence, and we will show you that we can enter yours.' He added that the small Russian squadron could not pose any threat to the United States. 'Without protection from the air, it makes a sitting duck,' he said. 'It's ridiculous to even talk about the Russian ships providing a counterweight to the U.S. Navy.' The Peter the Great is armed with SS-N-19 Shipwreck long-range anti-ship missiles. The warship will sail in an area where nine of every 14 barrels of imported oil to the US must transit.
| Gog/Magog | America |

Islam, Secularism and the Gospel The Christian Post (September 23, 2008) - While Britons may think of America as its juvenile and impetuous offspring, Great Britain has surely become our senile grandmother. Through repeated acts of self-condemnation and political correctness, the British are systematically capitulating to all things Islamic. In essence, our British forbearers are committing cultural suicide. In what may appear to be deferential considerations to their growing Muslim population, British authorities are slowly conforming to the demands of an increasingly outspoken and violent minority. Already in Britain, Muslim men with multiple wives have been given the go-ahead to claim extra welfare benefits following a year-long government review. Even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, the decision by British authorities means that polygamous marriages can now be recognized formally (not to mentioned subsidized) by the state, so long as the weddings took place in countries where the arrangement is legal. And yes, polygamy remains a norm in the Muslim world.

In another act of mindless irony, the Research, Information and Communication Unit, a division of the British Home Office, established for the purpose of countering al-Qaeda’s influence in the UK, is actually instructing civil servants not to use terms such as “Islamist extremism” or “jihadi fundamentalist.” Instead, they are to use phrases such as “violent extremism” or “criminal murderers” or “thugs” to avoid any implication that there is connection between Islam and terrorism.

Closer to home, the US government also issued guidelines earlier this year for the Department of Homeland Security suggesting such terms as “jihad” and “Islamic terrorism” not be used. (Where is the Ronald Reagan of our generation who is willing to call evil evil?)

So ridiculous have British concessions to Muslim demands become that Fortis Bank “stopped giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims,” according to The Times of London. (Pigs are an offensive, unclean animal to Muslims.) There are also accounts of Muslim nurses refusing to comply with hygiene procedures on the grounds that scrubbing requires them to bare their arms.

And this past week, Fox News reported that “Islamic law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.” According to news reports, “The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.” Adding that “rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system…” In an astonishing statement, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, said there was no reason why sharia law, derived from several sources including the Qur´an, could not be used for contractual agreements and marital disputes. The first question that comes to mind: How does British society plan to mitigate between the Western and Muslim views relative to the rights of women? more...
| Islam | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America |

US banks make shock status switch BBC News (September 22, 2008) - The last two major investment banks in the US have changed their status to become bank holding companies, allowing them to take deposits from investors. The changes should enable Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to raise more funds by opening commercial banks. The move - part of a huge restructuring effort on Wall Street - will also give them access to Federal Reserve support.

The US government has announced a $700bn (£382bn) package to tackle the worst financial crisis for decades. Congress is considering the plan, drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which would set up a fund to buy up much of the bad debt held by financial institutions, which had triggered the credit crisis.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said transforming these investment giants into licensed, deposit-taking banks marked the end of an era for Wall Street. "Now that the US taxpayer is in a formal sense underwriting Goldman and Morgan Stanley, their days of buckling the swash on the worldwide high seas of finance are over, possibly for good."

'Greater safety'

There had been fears, given the recent turbulence in the financial markets, that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would not be able to survive as independent players, and both their share prices have come under pressure. Both banks had filed requests with the Federal Reserve to change their status, and late on Sunday, the Fed announced it had granted the requests.

The last few weeks have seen dramatic and unexpected changes among banks, with Merrill Lynch being bought by Bank of America and Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection. Earlier this year, Bear Stearns was acquired by JP Morgan Chase. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

The coming 1-world currency WorldNet Daily (September 21, 2008) - On Wednesday, finance chiefs of five of the six-member, oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council approved a proposal to create a monetary union as a move toward adopting a single currency, according to the AFP. The six Islamic states constituting the Gulf Cooperation Council are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Oman pulled out of the agreement last year. Five states in the compact have agreed to set 2010 as the target date for the creation of a monetary union and the adoption of common currency.

The emergence of an Islamic single currency among these oil-rich Middle Eastern countries marks a significant step in the emerging worldwide movement to abandon national currencies in favor of regional currencies, along the model where the EU states have abandoned their national currencies in favor of the European Central Bank and the euro.

In 2002, the finance ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states sought out the assistance of the European Central Bank, as the model for their single currency, according to BBC reports. The council was created in 1981 to promote the development of the member countries. The monetary union will entail the creation of a central bank to issue the single currency.

At the Wednesday meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the finance and economy ministers reviewed the European Union's response to the council's view on eliminating obstacles that have blocked a long-stalled free trade agreement with the EU. Progress was also made on key convergence factors required to underpin the common currency, including setting the ratio of budget deficit and public debt to the gross domestic product, target interest rates and reserve requirements. Progress yet remains in reaching a consensus on inflation, the last remaining stumbling block to creating the common currency.

International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who met with the Gulf Cooperation Council finance ministers in Jeddah, hailed the move by the Gulf states toward economic integration, though he continued to express doubts the single currency would be adopted within two years.

"Achieving monetary union by 2010 will be a major challenge, as much remains to be done to enable the creation of a single currency within two years," Straus-Kahn. "Overcoming the current inflationary pressures, developing a clear vision of the powers of the future common central bank, choosing an exchange regime of the common currency, and harmonizing financial regulations and structures will be critical in this process." One factor easing the transition toward a single currency is that the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states all currently peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar.

Ten Russian warships have docked at Syrian port DEBKAfile (September 19, 2008) - Israeli military and naval commanders were taken by surprise by Rear Adm. Andrei Baranov's disclosure that 10 Russian warships are already anchored at the Syrian port of Tartus, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. Moscow and Damascus have worked fast to put in place the agreement reached in Moscow on Sept. 12 by Russian navy commander, Adm. Vladimir Wysotsky and Syrian naval commander Gen. Taleb al-Barri to provide the Russian fleet with a long-term base at Syrian ports. Israel was not aware that this many vessels were involved in the deal.

What most worries Israeli military leaders is an earlier announcement by Adm. Wysotsky that Russia’s Mediterranean assets would subjected to its Black Sea fleet command, thereby placing Russia’s warships near Israel’s shores at the service of Moscow’s contest against the US and NATO in the Caucasian. It is feared that Israel will be dragged into another cold war. Rear Adm. Baranov disclosed that the warships in Tartus had brought engineering crews to widen and dredge the harbor to accommodate additional, fleet vessels. The crews were also working on expanding Latakia, another Syrian port, possibly for aircraft carriers or guided missile cruisers. The Russians are making no secret of their intention of using their naval presence in Syrian ports as a deterrent to a possible Israeli air strike against Syria.
| Israel | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

Syrian Tripwire For WWIII Op Ed News - Lord Stirling (September 19, 2008) - Russian Rear Admiral Andrei Baranov has disclosed that 10 Russian warships are already anchored at the Syrian port of Tartus. Russian engineering crews are widening and dredging the port to accommodate additional Russian warships. The Russians are making clear their intentions of using the large Russian naval presence in Tartus as a deterrent to Israeli air strikes against Syria using the powerful anti-air missiles on-board the Russian naval warships. These missile systems can sweep the sky over most of Syria and knock down Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighters.

This changes the balance of power in the air over Syria. This also places a tripwire for World War III in place in the Middle East. Any attack on Iran will also involve a war with Syria and Lebanon. This will now involve Russian military forces in direct support of the Iranian/Syrian alliance. Russia is a major nuclear power with the power to destroy every American and NATO city. George Bush has just agreed to sell Israel 1,000 very advanced American bunker buster bombs for use in the coming war with Iran, Syria, and Lebanon.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

Government rushing to finish huge financial rescue plan Associated Press (September 19, 2008) - The Bush administration sketched out a multi-faceted effort on Friday to confront the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades, outlining a program that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to buy up bad mortgages and other toxic debt. Relief washed over Wall Street with a surge of buying.

President Bush, flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, acknowledged that the program will put a "significant amount of taxpayers' money on the line."

Markets unhinged by anxiety in recent months greeted the plan enthusiastically. The Dow Jones industrials shot up over 400 points and stayed in that territory into the afternoon. Global stock markets soared, too.

The administration is asking Congress to give it sweeping new powers to execute the plan. Paulson said it "needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem."

Paulson gave few details but said he would work through the weekend with leaders of Congress from both parties to flesh out the program, the biggest proposed government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression. Members of the Senate Banking Committee said they had yet to receive details of the proposal, but were ready to move quickly when they do. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Darkest day for Scottish banking as the Bank of Scotland faces its end The Scotsman (September 18, 2008) - FOR Scotland's oldest bank, it was the suddenness of its rout that stunned. That and the silence at the top. That and the invisibility of leadership. That and the short-selling frenzy that descended on HBOS shares yesterday, like vultures on a corpse. This was the blackest day in Scottish banking. An appalling day of shock, confusion and disbelief.

Many this morning will still be aghast at the speed of the bank's share collapse. Anger and a reckoning will come later. Today, the fate of HBOS, the savings of its 22 million customers, the prospects for its 72,000 staff and the final reckoning for its 1.2 million hapless investors – whose shares have been savaged – rest on the merger with rival Lloyds TSB.

Yesterday, in conditions of near pandemonium, shares in HBOS had by far their worst day since the onset of the credit crisis. Monday and Tuesday were train-wreck enough – the value of HBOS had plunged by £7 billion by Tuesday night. So there was a surge of relief when the shares opened firmer at the start of trading yesterday. It did not last long. The shares opened at 200p, rose to 214p, then plunged to only 88p – an astonishing collapse of 56 per cent in less than an hour. Then came reports of "advanced" merger talks with Lloyds TSB, at a price of 300p a share. The shares rallied – only to fall back again. Amid ever-growing confusion in the market, the mooted bid terms were now corrected – to 200p a share.

By the close, shares in HBOS were still being traded – astonishing for a company said to be in "advanced merger talks". They finished at 147.10p, down almost 20 per cent – a further loss of value of £1.9 billion. That suggests an ominous lack of confidence. The price-tag on HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, has now sunk to only £9.6 billion, 83 per cent down on the level a year ago. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Economic Crisis |

Israel: Tzipi Livni prepares to take over as prime minister Telegraph UK (September 18, 2008) - Tzipi Livni, the 50-year-old Israeli foreign minister and mother of two, is poised to become the Jewish state's second woman prime minister after being voted leader of the ruling Kadima Party. Miss Livni who has declared victory after a surprisingly tight race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of Israel's governing party, and said she would immediately turn to the task of trying to cobble together a new government.

Official results showed Miss Livni, a political moderate, winning by a 1.1 percentage point margin in the Kadima Party primary elections — a far narrower victory than the double-digit victory polls had predicted. She barely edged out Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister, in a contest that could have far-reaching implications for peacemaking with the Palestinians and Syria. "The national responsibility (bestowed) by the public brings me to approach this job with great awe," Livni said, shortly after official results were announced. She will become the first woman to lead Israel since Golda Meir in the 1970s.

The Right-wing orthodox party, Shas, which was once happy to sit in Mr Olmert's government is less likely to agree to work with Miss Livni because of her key role in peace talks with the Palestinians. Miss Livni's attempt to broker an agreement will not be helped by the imminent Jewish holiday season, including New Year and Yom Kippur, which normally lead to a freeze in most political activity. Under Israeli election law, if she fails to create a coalition commanding a parliamentary majority within 42 days a general election will be called.

The election of Miss Livni is a boost for the current Israeli-Palestinian peace process as she is one of Israel's strongest supporters of attempts to reach a negotiated agreement with moderate Palestinians. more...
| Israel | Dividing the Land |

China Paper Urges New Currency Order After "Financial Tsunami" Reuters (September 17, 2008) - Threatened by a "financial tsunami," the world must consider building a financial order no longer dependent on the United States, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Wednesday. The commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily said the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc "may augur an even larger impending global 'financial tsunami'."

The People's Daily is the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, and the overseas edition is a smaller circulation offshoot of the main paper. Its pronouncements do not necessarily directly reflect leadership views, but this commentary by a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University suggested considerable official alarm at the strains buckling world financial markets.

China's central bank earlier this week cut its lending rate for the first time in six years, a move analysts said was aimed at bolstering the economy and the battered stock market. "The eruption of the U.S. sub-prime crisis has exposed massive loopholes in the United States' financial oversight and supervision," writes the commentator, Shi Jianxun. "The world urgently needs to create a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States."

But Vice Premier Wang Qishan, on a visit to the United States, told U.S. trade officials in a meeting on Tuesday that China and the United States needed to maintain close economic ties with global markets going through such turbulence. "The Chinese government is well aware of the fact that the United States, which is the world's largest developed country, and China, which is the world's largest developing country, should have constructive and cooperative economic and trade relations," he said.

China is a major buyer of U.S. Treasury bonds, and through its sovereign wealth fund it has taken stakes in two large U.S. financial institutions. In July 2005, China revalued the yuan and freed it from a dollar peg to float within managed bands. But the yuan and China's trade remains tightly linked to the fortunes of the dollar.

The commentary suggested China must brace for grave economic fallout and look to alternatives, saying the crisis brings to mind the Great Depression of the 1930s. "Lehman Brothers announced bankruptcy will not only have a domino effect on the global financial world, it will bring a shock to the world economy," the front-page comment stated.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Bush Agrees to War on Iran Op Ed News - Lord Stirling (September 17, 2008) - The United States has agreed to sell to Israel 1,000 of the very advanced bunker buster GBU-39 bombs. This is a major development as the Bush Administration had denied previous recent Israeli requests for large numbers of this weapon system. The GBU-39 has a stand off range of 110 km and uses pop-out wings with extremely accurate fire and forget technology. It is capable of penetrating 90 cm of steel reinforced concrete. This indicates that the Israeli Government has succeeded in its request that America allow it to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. The GBU-39s will be used extensively in attacks on Iranian targets, as well as on Syrian and Hezbollah high value targets in both Syria and Lebanon.

The Israeli political landscape is about to change. I have been expecting former Israeli Prime Minister, and super war hawk, Benyamin Netanyahu to make a well timed major move. Current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is about to resign due to his ongoing criminal troubles. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz are in a tight battle to win the vote on Wednesday as Kadima Party Chairman, with the right to attempt to form a new government. However, it appears that Bibi Netanyahu has put together a deal with Labor Party leader, former PM and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and the ultra-religious Shas Party to form a government with Bibi as Prime Minister in a few days time. Count on Bibi Netanyahu lighting a blowtorch in the dry kindling that is the Middle East.

There is a real technical question if the GBU-39 can destroy all of the key known or suspected Iranian nuclear sites, as well as key military sites in Lebanon and Syria. The hardest sites are very well protected. Some experts think that several dozen to a hundred plus GBU-39s targeted at the same spot can take out even the deepest/most harden site; others say that a micro or mini nuke will be required.

The Israeli and American war planners may be counting on all sides refraining from the use of WMD. Rather like Saddam held back his 29 WMD armed (chemical and anthrax) Scud-type guided missiles during the First Gulf War and like Hezbollah did during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. If this is the strategy it is one very, very, massive risk to all involved. more...
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

Juncker rules out Lisbon treaty before 2010 EU Observer (September 17, 2008) - The European Union's Lisbon Treaty will not enter into force before the European Parliament elections in June 2009, as was initially hoped, and is unlikely to do so before 1 January 2010 either, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels on Wednesday (17 September).

"I don't think that the treaty will be in place in June [2009], when the next European elections will take place," Mr Juncker, who is also the president of the eurogroup - gathering the finance ministers of the eurozone - said at a conference organised by the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC).

In order for the document to be in place by June 2009, it would have to be ratified by all 27 EU member states by February - something which according to Luxembourg's premier is "not realistic." "It's not possible to have this treaty enter into force before the year 2010," he stressed.

Mr Juncker is the first high-level politician to publicly state the Lisbon treaty may be impossible to adopt next year. Originally, the document - aimed to replace the failed European Constitution and to provide for a better and more efficient functioning of the EU - was planned to enter into force in January 2009. But Irish citizens voted No in a referendum on the treaty in June, casting a doubt over the possibility to reach the goal.

EU leaders will be expecting to hear from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on the issue at a summit meeting in October, with the EU insisting ratification of the document should continue in other member states, and a second referendum in Ireland seen by some as a possibility to bypass the June No vote. Mr Juncker, however, said that a possible revote in Ireland should not take place in the immediate future. "Given the economic crisis we're living in, given the confidence that's lacking, given that governments are increasingly unpopular all over Europe, organising a referendum around a European treaty is a dangerous road to take," he said. "If I was the Irish Prime Minister, I wouldn't go for a referendum in the next few months."

If the Lisbon treaty does not come into force in 2009, that will affect the composition of both the European Parliament and the European Commission next year, which would have to be conducted under the EU's current set of rules, the Nice treaty. It would mean that the number of seats in the European Parliament would shrink from the current 785 to 736 – instead of 751, as foreseen in the Lisbon treaty. But the number of commissioners in the next commission - to be nominated by November 2009 - would also be reduced, as under Nice, their number should be "less than the number of member states."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder |

US government rescues insurer AIG BBC (September 17, 2008) - The US Federal Reserve has announced an $85bn (£48bn) rescue package for AIG, the country's biggest insurance company, to save it from bankruptcy. AIG will get an $85bn loan, in return for an 80% public stake in the firm. The rescue follows the collapse of US investment giant Lehman Brothers, which caused share prices to plummet across the world's financial markets. Authorities are hoping the bail-out will avert the threat of a global financial meltdown. The Fed's move is viewed by some as the most radical intervention in private business in its history and has helped fuel a tentative rally on global stock markets. The past few days have seen dramatic events unfold in the financial world:

'Challenging times'

The Federal Reserve made its decision about AIG "with the full support of the Treasury Department", it said in a statement, adding that the secured loan included conditions designed to protect "the interests of the US government and taxpayers". The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson refused to bail out America's fourth-largest investment bank Lehman Brothers after it filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. But he supported the rescue of AIG and said the move would protect taxpayers. "These are challenging times for our financial markets," he said.

The rescue of AIG - which has a trillion dollars in assets and insures bank loans around the world - helped world stock markets rally. Wednesday trading saw gains in Tokyo, Taiwan, Singapore and Seoul, though prices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia fell. European markets were higher, but trading was volatile. The dollar also rose against major currencies. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Panic as Russian market suspended News.au (September 17, 2008) - RUSSIA'S main stock market suspended trading today after plummeting more than 11 per cent, having lost more than half its value since May, as failing Wall Street banks caused panic on global markets.

The benchmark RTS index halted trade after a fall of 11.47 left it 54 per cent below its record close on May 19. The ruble-denominated Micex was also suspended for an hour after dropping 16.6 per cent. "Panic has gripped the Russian stock market," read a headline on the Interfax news agency. Those hardest hit on the RTS were energy companies, with state-controlled gas giant Gazprom falling 17.2 per cent and oil firm Rosneft losing 19.12 per cent.

"The turmoil on Wall Street and worries about fall in the oil price are keeping buyers away despite the cheap prices," said analyst Chris Weafer in a note from Moscow-based investment bank Uralsib. "The only feeling is one of numbness, shock," he said. "The hope is that this is the final clear-out, that this week we will find a floor." more...
| Economic Crisis |

New Wall Street crisis will create a new financial world order, says RCM CIO City Wire UK (September 16, 2008) - As the sell-off in global markets continues, RCM's CIO for Europe Neil Dwane believes the aftermath of Monday's events will lead to the formation of a 'new world order', in which the remaining financial giants will flourish.

'Merrills rushed into the arms of Bank of America (BoA) who last night shut down its investment banking operations admitting failure. Surely BoA will not indulge Merrills' investment banking operations anywhere near to the extent that the old Merrills' management had done?' Dwane asks. Dwane believes the key implication of the Fed's decision not to facilitate the sale of Lehmans Brothers is that it shows that capacity is being removed from the markets, alongside the clear message that 'policy will not bail out all investors and losers'.

'Moral hazard is back and negligent Boards will find there to be no willing supplier of capital except on very onerous terms. The key messages of this weekend remain that capital remains scarce, leverage and accounting for the leveraged assets remains incomplete and inconsistent and a New World order is being born where financial behemoths are best placed,' he says.

One of the key features of this 'New World order' will be increased regulation, transparency and risk control, according to Dwane. However, the CIO of the equity specialist of Allianz Global Investors is anxious that 'investors remain complacent over the changes to come and the lower returns and earnings power of the sector in the future'.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Draghi: Deeper Crisis Would Call for Global Solution Doug McIntosh (September 16, 2008) - National solutions have been enough to stem the financial-sector crisis so far, ECB Governing Council member Mario Draghi said in a Berlin speech Thursday, but they may not be enough if things get worse. “Policies are taking a variety of shapes that can be grouped within two broad categories: emergency and structural responses,” said Mr. Draghi, who also heads Italy’s central bank. “Until now, the first remained typically national since each crisis was unique to the financial structure of the country and so were the remedies. However, if the crisis were to become systemic - and the past weekend has shown just how sudden and dramatic the turn of events can be — I believe that an internationally coordinated effort will be necessary.”

Mr. Draghi’s words have international heft, since he chairs the Financial Stability Forum — a group of global regulators and central bankers working on solutions for preventing the next blowup. He indicated the framework of the global financial system is undergoing a gut check: “A resilient infrastructure is one that is capable of withstanding the effects of the failure of a large financial institution. As we speak, this objective is being tested by reality.”

Overall, he said, the global banking system has enough capital to meet its needs “under reasonable scenarios.” He offered no prediction about whether market conditions would continue to be “reasonable” but did say banks will need to raise “at least once again the amount of capital raised since the crisis began.” Mr. Draghi’s estimate of that amount, according to a person familiar with the matter, is $350 billion. Some banks will have an easier time of it than others - namely those “that ran the debt-financed, highly leveraged and maturity mismatched business model that provided steady fee income over the last several years.” –Joellen Perry
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

A Trillion Here; A Trillion There Doug McIntosh (September 16, 2008) - It was Everett Dirksen, a politician from Illinois a few decades back who once said of government spending, " A billion here and a billion there, pretty soon you are really talking some money." This was in the 1970's, when a billion still meant something. It was in 1969 I think when the entire US government spending was $100 billion dollars and we were howling about an inflation rate of 3%. The good ole days to be sure.

Now we are dealing with nothing less than systemic collapse. I have been watching the news media coverage of the "situation on Wall Street." We do not have a situation here: we have the phased collapse of the American economy. When you find out Jeb Bush is a "consultant" for Lehman Brothers; when you hear McCain call for a "9-11 type commission to investigate Wall Street" you know the fix is in. It was the Bushes who destroyed the Savings and Loan industry, along with the Democrat St. Germaine, who raised the insurance coverage to $100,000. For me, there is a very clear trail of cookie crumbs in this so called "crisis." It is a planned crisis.

While watching PBS and its "Nightly Business Report" last night I was struck by how clueless these people really are. They simply don't have the capacity to understand what is going on. It is like my old 386 computer with its 4 Megabytes of RAM trying to run too many software programs at the same time: overload city. The mainstream simply doesn't have the mental ability to deal with what is happening right now in the economic sphere. The reason for that is simple: it isn't in their script. Of course, for someone of my impeccable doom and gloom credentials, I am not in the least surprised, amazed, or even stressed. After writing for over a decade on the open corruption of the "system", I may be many things, angry and appalled for instance, but not surprised or stunned. The New World Order is nothing if not consistent.

The reason for the current stock market meltdowns, the meltdowns being global and plural, is simple: the system is corrupt. It is pathetic to watch McCain call for investigations, or others for new regulations. One of the major reasons for this is because Congress repealed the Glass/Seagall? act from the Great Depression a few years back. There are specific actions taken, laws repealed for instance, that have directly resulted in the current "crisis." Specific people, regulators, politicians, economic experts and media whores have taken specific actions, and not taken specific actions, which have led to the current situation. I don't see any indication of any Congressperson or Senate person being indicted for Treason and tried for their vote repealing Glass/Seagall for instance. Nor will there ever be. This is also the way the NWO works. No accountability at all. Never has been and never will be. The insolence of the elite is well justified.

The headlines are screaming the ratings agencies just downgraded AIG, the insurance blob. I am so glad the ratings agencies decided to do their jobs. It is upon the politicians, the media, the ratings agencies the fake appraisals, the liar loans and all the other root causes of the current crisis may be laid. We do not need new government regulations; what we need is a system where corruption is punished and not rewarded. What we need is consequences and not bailouts. What we need is truth and not lies. But, it doesn't matter now. The fix is in. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Financial Crisis in America Threatens Israel's Stability Israel National News (September 15, 2008) - The venerated securities firm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. announced early Monday morning on its website it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stunning Wall Street and rattling financial markets around the world. Not least among them was the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which opened with sharp losses as it echoed the news.

Lehman was one of the first international investment banks to open its doors in the State of Israel, and businesses across the country are going to be affected by what is taking place on Wall Street. Lehman has invested in numerous institutions in Israel, among them Bank Leumi, Psagot, the Clal group, Menorah and Harel Financial Services. All told, Lehman Brothers Inc. has invested more than NIS 850 million in Israeli institutions.

The company’s stock, which provides investment banking services to corporations, institutions, high-net worth individuals, municipalities and governments around the world, dropped by 93.88 percent since the beginning of this year, trading at $3.65 per share at the end of the day on Friday. Although one of the smallest of Wall Street’s major players, with only 25,000 employees, Lehman Brothers has been a heavy hitter in the mortgage market. The renowned investment bank began its most recent descent in the morass of the mortgage market crisis in the summer of 2007. Lehman Brothers reported in June a second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, far greater than had been expected by analysts and the harbinger of a general malaise in the market.

In September, the US government announced its takeover of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage finance companies, and two days later, Lehman Brothers announced its next expected loss of $3.9 billion. It said it spinning off its commercial real estate holdings into a new public company.

Not far behind Monday’s morning’s blues was the gloom predicted by financial experts who eyed the next possible crash, that of major US insurance company, American International Group A.I.G. The New York Times reported Monday that the insurance giant has asked for a $40 billion loan from the Federal Reserve to pull it through the current crisis; without that crucial support, the newspaper reports, the company might not survive. A.I.G. provides insurance products – including general and life insurance as well as retirement services, financial services and asset management to individuals and businesses throughout the United States and abroad. more...
| Israel | America | Economic Crisis |

IDF intelligence: Syria strengthening ties with radical axis YNet News (September 15, 2008) - Head of Military Intelligence research division tells Knesset committee Damascus simultaneously boosting ties with West, radical countries. Adds: Hamas establishing bona fide country in Gaza. "Syria is moving forward along the path of peace and openness toward the West while simultaneously strengthening its ties to the radical axis," the head of the research division of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday.

Addressing the Iranian nuclear program, Baidatz said "the most optimistic scenario as far as the Iranians are concerned is that they will have obtained nuclear capabilities by 2010," but added that such a scenario was "not likely". According to the intelligence official, Iran is continuing to advance technologically while the international community is not showing any signs of trying to stall the Islamic Republic's progress.

'Weapons smuggling continues'

Baidatz told the MKs that Hamas is continuing to arm itself with Qassam rockets and is obtaining capabilities that may threaten Israel's home front. "Hamas is also improving its defense capabilities in case of an Israeli operation (in Gaza)," he said. "The Islamist group is turning Gaza into a bona fide state. Hamas is the clear and decisive ruler there." According to Baidatz, the smuggling of weapons and goods into the Strip through the Rafah crossing continues despite the Egyptians' efforts to prevent it.

As for Israel's northern border, Baidatz said Hizbullah may attempt to shoot down any Israeli aircraft that enters Lebanese airspace, adding that the Shiite group's armament was also continuing "north and south of the Litani River". He said the transfer of arms to Hizbullah from Iran and Syria is continuing in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 |

Solana: political pressure an option for EU to push forward Mideast peace process China View (September 14, 2008) - Visiting EU senior official Javier Solana said here that the European Union would use the political pressure to achieve what can be achieved in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the official news agency Petra reported on Sunday.

The international community and the EU should help maintaining the continuity of negotiations, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and EU's Secretary-General of the Council Solana said on a press conference in Amman following a two-day visit. Negotiations, he affirmed, must have a timetable. Despite of the U.S. and Israeli elections, there is still hope to reach a tangible development before the end of 2008, he added. "Momentum of the negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis will continue until next year, if nothing was achieved this year," Solana said.

Asked about the EU's role in ending the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip, Solana said that "our policies and goal is to open border crossings before people and goods, but opening these crossings is not our responsibility." Earlier, Solana met with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Nadir Al Dahabi and Foreign Minister Salaheddin Al Bashir for talks on the peace process and relations between regional countries and the EU. Solana has concluded a regional tour that took him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank, Israel and Jordan.
| Israel | Islam | Dividing the Land | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana |

Fed Adds Most Reserves Since 9/11 as Banks Hoard Cash Bloomberg (September 15, 2008) - The Federal Reserve added $70 billion in reserves to the banking system, the most since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, to reverse a surge in borrowing costs sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Fed funds traded as high as 6 percent, or 4 percentage points above the central bank's target rate for overnight loans between banks, according to ICAP Plc, the world's largest inter- dealer broker. The margin was the greatest since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1998. The rate dropped to as low as 0.5 percent after the Fed added the temporary reserves.

The central bank uses repurchase agreements, or repos, to buy or sell Treasury, mortgage-backed and so-called agency debt for a set period, to help maintain enough money in the system to keep overnight interest rates close to the target. They don't signal a policy shift. Futures show traders boosted odds to 68 percent that the Fed will cut rates when policy makers meet tomorrow to offset financial market turmoil.

Demand for short-term funds "dramatically increased," said Michael Darda, chief economist for MKM Partners LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. "If the Fed puts enough liquidity in the system, the funds rate will come down. It may actually trade below target for a while."

The so-called effective funds rate was 2.1 percent on Sept. 12, or 10 basis points over the target rate. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports daily, for the previous trading session, the effective funds rate. It is a weighted average rate of unsecured overnight lending transactions. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. more...
| Economic Crisis |

Turkey, Egypt To Intensify Cooperation And Consultations Turkish Press.com (September 14, 2008) - Turkey and Egypt have agreed to intensify cooperation and consultations on bilateral, regional and international issues. A joint declaration was released following the meeting of Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Ankara on Saturday. The meeting between Babacan and Aboul Gheit was the first meeting within the scope of the Turkey-Egypt Framework Document for Strategic Partnership signed in Istanbul in November 2007 and the two countries reaffirmed their will to improve relations, the joint declaration said.

Turkey and Egypt would exert efforts to resolve problems in economic and commercial relations that have speeded up recently, it said, adding that parties reaffirmed their support for the Annapolis process that aims at a peaceful solution to dispute between Israel and Palestine. The declaration also said that Turkey appreciated Egyptian efforts over Israel-Palestine issue and Egypt appreciated Turkey`s mediation in indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria.

The two parties have highlighted the importance of political unity and territorial integrity of Iraq. Turkish and Egyptian officials also discussed several other issues, such as Iran`s nuclear program and recent developments in the Balkans and Caucasus, it added. Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit departed from Ankara late Saturday after being received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, officials said.
| Islam |

US faces the F-16s it supplied Pakistan The Times of India (September 14, 2008) - The United States is suddenly faced with the uncomfortable scenario of confronting the very same weapons and military hardware, including F-16 fighter jets, it has armed Pakistan with for decades. The unsavoury prospect of having to take a crack at the its one-time ally has surfaced most starkly in the skies over the Afghan-Pakistan border this weekend after the Pakistan Air Force deployed its US-supplied F-16s to challenge the violation of its airspace by US drones, and in one case, an airborne assault that landed US Navy Seals inside Pakistani territory.

The turnaround of Pakistan from an ally to a potential enemy has alarmed lawmakers, some of whom are now questioning the continued supply of arms to Islamabad. On Tuesday, a Democrat-controlled House Foreign Relations panel has scheduled a hearing whose snarky title -- “Defeating al-Qaida’s Air Force: Pakistan’s F-16 Program in the Fight Against Terrorism” == betrays the unease over the Bush Administration’s relentless arming of Pakistan. Al-Qaida has no known air force.

Some lawmakers and analysts have long questioned the need for Washington to arm Pakistan with sophisticated fighter jets to counter Al-Qaida’s and Taliban’s diffused militants, many of whom are in Pakistan’s towns and cities and are patronised by Islamabad’s intelligence agencies. “The panel will look at how the F-16 program fits into the broader US strategy in the fight against terrorism as well as into the overall US relationship with Pakistan,” a notification from the sub-committee read.

The House sub-committee is lead by Gary Ackerman, a known critic of the administration’s relentless pandering of Pakistan with military supplies. He and other lawmakers have questioned the administration’s recent decisions to provide funding for mid-life upgrades to F-16s, especially after government audits said Pakistan has been using US military aid to bulk up its forces against India rather than use it for counterterrorism.

In July, the Bush administration sought to shift $226.5 million in US counterterrorism aid for the F-16 upgrades. Ackerman said the subcommittee will seek witness testimony about the “complete scope of the F-16 program with Pakistan including the number of planes, updates made to existing planes, proposed armaments, schedule of delivery and source of payment.”

In addition, because Congress has previously provided Pakistan with significant amounts of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for counterterrorism and law enforcement activities against al-Qaida and the Taliban, the subcommittee will seek testimony on how these planes contribute to Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and how the use of additional FMF to pay for mid-life updates to Pakistan’s existing F-16 fleet enhances those efforts. The subcommittee is also expected to examine what counterterrorism equipment or programs were foregone as a result of the July 16, 2008, reprogramming request.

Fearful of a Congressional squeeze on further F-16 supplies and upgrades, an unnamed senior Pakistani official in Washington briefed US and Pakistani journalists on Friday on the central role the jets were playing in the war on terror. Pakistan, he said, has flown nearly 100 missions during three weeks in August that produced some 500-550 Taliban casualties. But the PAF needed night-flying capability because the militants were regrouping in the night.

There is a great deal of skepticism about Pakistan using F-16s against militants, and the body count it keeps producing. Several accounts from the region describe friendly, fraternal ties between the Pakistani military and Taliban fighters.

On Sunday, the Pakistani media reported tribal sources as saying a PAF jets were seen patrolling the skies on the country’s western borders with Afghanistan in the afternoon, soon after a US predator was seen flying in the area. “Neither the CIA-operated Predator nor the Pakistani jet fighter took any offensive action as the two planes didn’t encounter each other,” a report in the Pakistani newspaper The News, said. Pakistan’s army chief Pervez Kiyani has vowed to defend the country against US incursions “at all costs.”
| America |

Olmert: Forget Greater Israel Israel National News (September 14, 2008) - "The notion of a Greater Israel no longer exists, and anyone who still believes in it is deluding themselves," said Ehud Olmert, in what is likely to be his last cabinet meeting as Prime Minister. "Forty years after the Six Day War ended, we keep finding excuses not to act. This isn't doing Israel any good,” said Olmert to the members of his cabinet.

Olmert warned that unless Israel gives up more land, it will face pressure from overseas to grant all PA Arabs citizenship in a single state of two nationalities. “The international community in starting to view Israel as a future binational state. We can prove that we have been more creative than the other side through the years, and that they have been more obstinate, but as usual, we will win the debate by not losing sight of what's really important.” The Prime Minister warned that “time is not on Israel’s side, not because our cause isn’t just, but because time has its own repercussions.” Olmert did not specify what those repercussions were, nor did he explain why he believed that Israel was incapable of dealing with them.

Olmert was once known as a hawkish politician reluctant to give up land. "I admit – this hasn’t always been my position. In the past I've said that what he agreed to in Camp David was wrong.” Olmert he confessed in the meeting that he used to believe in a Greater Israel. "I used to believe that everything from the Jordan Riverbank to the Mediterranean Sea was ours. After all, dig anywhere and you'll find Jewish history. But eventually, after great internal conflict, I've realized we have to share this land with the people who dwell here – that is if we don’t want to be a binational state," said Olmert. more...
| Israel | Islam | Dividing the Land |

Codex Alimentarius: Population Control Under the Guise of Consumer Protection Natural News (September 10, 2008) - Codeath (sorry, I meant Codex) Alimentarius, latin for Food Code, is a very misunderstood organization that most people (including nearly all U.S. congressmen) have never heard of, never mind understand the true reality of this extremely powerful trade organization. From the official Codex website (www.codexalimentarius.net) the altruistic purpose of this commission is in "protecting health of the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices in the food trade, and promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations". Codex is a joint venture regulated by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO).

Brief History of Codex

The history of Codex began in 1893 when the Austria-Hungarian empire decided it needed a specific set of guidelines by which the courts could rule on cases dealing with food [1]. This regulatory set of mandates became known as Codex Alimentarius and was effectively implemented until the fall of the empire in 1918. The United Nations (UN) met in 1962 and decided that Codex should be re-implemented worldwide in order to protect health of the consumers. Two-thirds of funding for Codex emanates from the FAO while the other third comes from the WHO.

In 2002, the FAO and WHO had serious concerns about the direction of Codex and hired an external consultant to determine its performance since 1962 and to designate which direction to take the trade organization [2]. The consultant concluded that Codex should be immediately scrapped and eliminated. It was at this time that big industry realized the full monetary potential of this organization and exerted its powerful influence. The updated outcome was a toned down report asking Codex to address 20 various concerns within the organization.

Since 2002, the Codex Alimentarius Commission has covertly surrendered its role as an international public health and consumer protection organization. Under the helm of big industry, the sole surreptitious purpose of the new codex is to increase profits for the global corporate juggernauts while controlling the world through food. The implicit understanding of their philosophy is that if you control food, you control the world.

Codex Now

The most dominant country behind the agenda of Codex is the United States whose sole purpose is to benefit multinational interests like Big Pharma, Big Agribusiness, Big Chema and the like. At the latest meeting in Geneva, the U.S. recently became the chair of Codex which will facilitate an exacerbation of the distortion of health freedom and will continue the promulgation of misinformation and lies about genetically modified organism (GMOs) and nutrients while fulfilling the tacit population control agenda. The reason the U.S. continues to dominate Codex is because other countries falsely believe the U.S. possesses the latest and greatest safety technology when it comes to food and hence, whatever the U.S. asks for, its allies (E.U., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore) follow suit nearly every time.

Many of the countries who wish to participate and want to voice their opinions are not allowed to attend the Codex meetings as the U.S. denies most visas for these representatives whenever they feel like it. Many of these countries (South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, Sudan, Nigeria) realize that Codex has been altered from a benevolent food organization to one that is fraudulent, lethal and illegitimate. The fact that Codex meetings are held all over the world is also no accident and allows the U.S. to maintain its tight grip on the Codex agenda as the less economically viable countries are not able to attend.

The Real Threat

While the esoteric agenda of the media is busy driving fear into the hearts of the world by focusing on terrorism, global warming, salmonella, and food shortages, the real threats are clandestinely becoming a reality. Soon every single thing you put into your mouth (with the exception of pharmaceuticals, of course) will be highly regulated by Codex Alimentarius, including water. The standards of Codex are a complete affront to the freedom of clean and healthy food, yet these regulations have no legal international standing. Why should we be worried? These soon-to-be mandatory standards will apply to every country who are members of the WTO (World Trade Organization). If countries do not follow these standards, then enormous trade sanctions will result. Some Codex standards that will take effect on December 31, 2009 and once initiated are completely irrevocable include [2]:

Some examples of potential permissible safe levels of nutrients under Codex include [2]:

The Door is Open for Codex

In 1995, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created an illegal policy stating that international standards (i.e, Codex) would supersede U.S. laws governing all food even if these standards were incomplete [5]. Furthermore, in 2004 the U.S. passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (illegal under U.S. law, but legal under international law) that requires the U.S. to conform to Codex in December of 2009 [6].

Once these standards are adopted there is no possible way to return to the standards of the old. Once Codex compliance begins in any area, as long as we remain a member of the WTO, it is totally irrevocable. These standards are then unable to be repealed, changed or altered in any way shape or form [1, 2, 7].

Population control for money is the easiest way to describe the new Codex which is run by the U.S. and controlled by Big Pharma and the like to reduce the population to a sustainable 500 million - a reduction of approximately 93 percent. The FAO and WHO have the audacity to estimate that by the introduction of just the vitamin and mineral guideline alone, at a minimum 3 billion deaths (1 billion from starvation and another 2 billion from preventable and degenerative diseases of under nutrition, e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes) will result.

Degraded, demineralized, pesticide-filled and irradiated foods are the fastest and most efficient way to cause a profitable surge in malnutrition, preventable and degenerative disease which the most appropriate course of action is always pharmaceuticals. Death for profit is the new name of the game. Big Pharma has been waiting for this opportunity for years.

Fighting Back

Dr. Rima Laibow, M.D., who is the medical director for Natural Solutions Foundation, has undertaken legal action against the U.S. government and continues to attend every Codex meeting while fighting for your health freedom. The latest Codex meeting in Geneva heard some dissenting voices that were tired of the U.S. bullying every other country in the world with its population control agenda. Brazil and China have stated that when smaller, underrepresented countries are unable to attend Codex meetings (due to the U.S. not allowing Visas or for lack of monetary means) then every decision made in their absence is invalid. As a result, Codex may soon fall apart under the weight of it own corruption, but pressure needs to be unilaterally applied.

Dr. Rima has also been meeting with delegates from other countries and making them aware of something called Private Standards. Private standards allow countries to draft food standards which are safer and higher than those mandated by Codex. Obviously, this is not a very difficult task and many countries can seemingly circumvent the flawed and irrevocable guidelines Codex is attempting to implement on December 31, 2009 [7].

What Can You Do?

The only way to avoid such cataclysmic events are to fight with the dissemination of knowledge to everyone you know. It does not matter whether they are still asleep or hypnotized by the enslavement of daily life or too busy to pay attention -- the time to wake up is now. The U.S. government and the collaborating media have been trying to distract America while all these egregious and mandatory standards are covertly passed. It is time to take action and you can do so by going to (www.healthfreedomusa.org) and following the latest updates on Codex. You can also sign a legal citizen's petition here: (http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.p...) .

Another effective way to get your voice heard is through sending emails or writing to your congressman (https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml) . If you send one email to congress, it will ostensibly count as 13,000 emails. The U.S. Congress believes that for each person who takes the time to write or email them there are another 13,000 others who share similar views but do not take the time to promulgate them. Those living in other countries need to contact their representatives in order to have your voice heard. It is very important that swift and vociferous action be taken now. Times are changing very rapidly and unless we all come together on this issue we may all have to start thinking about growing our own food in the near future to avoid extermination.

Codex Contacts to Take Action

Dr. F. Edward Scarbrough
U.S. Manager for Codex
U.S. Department of Agriculture
4861-South Building
Washington, DC 20250
Phone: (202) 205-7760
Fax: (202) 720-3157
Ed.scarbrough@fsis.usda.gov

References:

Putin's Unholy Land Grab: Red Square In Jerusalem The Jewish Press (September 3, 2008) - Last month it took two tank divisions and a diversion of Olympian proportions for Vladimir Putin to subdue Georgia's fledgling democracy and seize two of its territorial regions. This month we may see Russia's new emperor claiming a prime slice of downtown Jerusalem for the KGB without even firing a shot.

I refer to a shady transfer to Putin of what is known as the Russian Compound - a 17-acre site between Jaffa and Hanevi'im roads, close to the Old City walls. According to a Foreign Ministry letter that has come into this writer's possession, the deal was agreed on between the two governments on December 12, 2007. The transaction could not be completed, however, until the land was transferred from Israel's Custodian General of land and property to the government itself.

According to the same Ministry letter, this final clearance was ratified by a Jerusalem court on August 27. Like so many other concessions on outposts and the security fence, this is yet another surrender concocted between the executive and the judiciary, without any parliamentary involvement or oversight.

According to the Israel Policy Forum, the Jewish state's judiciary is the most activist in the democratic world and dominates the elected branches of government, the legislative and the executive. The ultimate check on the judicial branch of government is the power of appointing judges, which is retained by the elected branches of government in the overwhelming majority of democracies. This enables the people's representatives to ensure that no judges with extreme views (including extreme views of their own political prerogatives) are appointed.

In Israel, such a check is nonexistent. Judges in Israel are appointed by a small committee controlled by the judges of the Supreme Court and their close allies in the Israeli bar. The process is secretive and subject to manipulation and abuse. It has led to the domination of the court by judges with strongly liberal views who have succeeded in alienating large segments of Israel's population.

Given Russia's close association with Iran and Syria, the prospect of its establishing an enclave in the heart of the Jewish capital is daunting indeed. It conjures up images of Arab terrorists fleeing into the compound and Israeli security personnel unable to pursue them without precipitating an international crisis. In many respects it would be tantamount to inviting a Russian spy ship to permanently dock right in the middle of an Israeli naval base.

The Russian Compound's commanding position made it the perfect staging ground for numerous conquests of Jerusalem from the Assyrians to Titus's Roman legions. From a Turkish cavalry parade ground in the Ottoman period it was developed in 1860 by the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society to cater for large numbers of Russian pilgrims to the holy city. more...
| Israel | Islam | Dividing the Land | Gog/Magog |

News for September 26, 2008